1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and particularly to an electrical connector assembly having a sound card mounted internal to the assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many prior art modular jacks were mounted singly on a motherboard, and audio circuitry was included on the motherboard. Creating a separate sound card improved the use of space on the motherboard, and including more than one modular jack in a housing, particularly in a stacked configuration, led to a further savings of printed circuit board xe2x80x9creal estatexe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,008, as shown in FIG. 17, is one example of a prior art connector assembly which saves board space. The connector assembly 110 has a dielectric housing 112 with a D-sub connector 160 mounted on top of the housing, and a triplex audio jack assembly 130 mounted in the housing below the D-sub connector. The terminals 163 of the D-Sub connector are bent to connect to a printed circuit board (not shown) beneath the connector assembly 110, and must be in two sizes, a longer size for contacts in the upper row of the D-Sub connector, and a shorter size for contacts in the lower row. Contacts 132 of the audio jack assembly also connect to the PCB beneath the connector assembly. A rear shield 150 covers the assembly to provide EMI protection. Although more efficient than discrete connectors, this assembly and related sound card still take up quite a bit of space.
Further miniaturization is desired.
A first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly with a miniaturized sound card installed inside the assembly housing, thereby minimizing use of space in electronic equipment.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly which is simple to manufacture.
An electrical connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a D-Sub connector and a triplex audio jack connector mounted to a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board is mounted at its lower edge to a board edge connector. The subassembly is inserted into an assembly housing and the D-Sub connector is fixed to the housing together with a pair of grounding anchors by a pair of locking fasteners. A rear cover having a shielding plate affixed to it is attached to a back of the assembly housing, effectively enclosing the connectors and printed circuit board inside the housing and rear cover. The printed circuit board can contain all the functions of a sound card, making the electrical connector assembly a complete sound card assembly. The electrical connector assembly can then be mounted to a motherboard. Due to its small size, the assembly efficiently provides all the functions of a sound card and associated connectors at a savings in occupied space.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.